How Do I Talk With My Child About A Past Life?

You can often tell when children are sharing past life memories as opposed to “making” up stories by the tone of their voice and the way they express whatever it is they say to you. When children make up stories you can see their little minds ticking over whilst they “create” the story in their own head first and then communicate it to you.

If it is a traumatic past life memory, children can sometimes get upset recalling it – but in a lot of cases, children discuss past life memories in a very matter-of-fact way, then just get up, or turn away and carry on with what they’re doing originally (much like they got caught up in a moment of reverie). For some children, just talking about the memories and knowing that they are being believed and listened to with an open mind and heart, is enough to bring about relief and healing if it is traumatic memories that are surfacing for them. Whereas when children are blocked from speaking so freely about such subjects, or when they are told not to make up stories and instead made to hold everything within themselves, this is when the problem remains persistent (we all know what happens when we bury our own problems).

Triggers to these past life memories can come in many forms for both children and adults alike - be it a word, sound, smell, memory recall, dream, game, even another persons presence, or a change of “routine” - children can also of course just simply remember, as their mind is so much more free and in touch with every aspect of self.

Children are particularly gifted when it comes to being able to “create” and “expose” their inner feelings through other outlets - be it writing, drawing or play, so all of these activities should be encouraged in children, especially when they are unconsciously bringing such stuff forward – getting a child to tell you a story about what their playtime adventures are about can often uncover a lot more than you would ever expect. Another method of searching further into your child’s memories, or their present fears/feelings, can be accomplished by looking into their dreams and what they reveal by way of symbols and messages. Keep a journal of anything that comes up and introduce the new routine by making it appear more like a game for the whole family to play - every morning, you can all sit down to breakfast and share your stories/dreams from the night before - our dreams can reveal a lot of details and symbols that we miss in the waking world.

Aside from just using a journal to record your child's dreams as mentioned above, use a journal to record as much as possible. Record anything and everything that seems relevant and you will find that it eventually builds up into a bigger and clearer picture over time through all the varied channels and instances that the information and experiences are revealed.

As far as questioning children on past lives and memories, it is always important to use what can be termed as “clean” language, this is basically a language that guides, rather than putting “words into their mouths”. So for example, you use questions such as:

“And then what happened…?”
“And so what did you do then…?”
“How did you feel…?”
“Can you remember why that was…?”

Clean language is basically a way of bringing a child to their own truth or realization of their memories, through their own thoughts and/or words; it means not encouraging them - by spoken word or tone of voice - to search for something within them just because you believe/wonder if it’s there. Children are very sensitive so it’s important not to put our own “theories” or “assumptions” across in any way, either by our reactions, tone or question. A lot of the time, the “real truth” inside can be quite far from our own imaginings and this putting forward of our own assumptions can cause the child to wander off from their own thoughts and memories and instead layer over them with our own. In a nutshell, using clean language means GUIDING and not LEADING

If she mentions dying, concentrate on the circumstances surrounding the moment of death. Ask questions, like "How did you die?" "Who was with you when you died?" "What happened just before you died?"
Use open questions, too, like "What happened next?" "How did you feel?" "What were you thinking?" Get as much information as you can, so you can discern what unfinished business might remain from the moment of death. Proceed gently, and in an unexcited, matter-of-fact tone of voice. If she resists this line of questioning, don't push.

After she's told you as much as she can about the moment of death, ask her, "Right after you died, then what happened?" You might be rewarded with a full description of her journey through the after-life bardos and heaven. Or your child may simply say, "And then I came to you!" By tracing this transition from past life death to rebirth, she may understand for the first time that the past life is over, that she is now in a new lifetime. This could be just the understanding she needs to help her let go of the past and ground herself in present reality. This realization alone may neutralize the effects of an incomplete death.

Any sight, sound, taste, smell, person, place, or event that reminds the child of a former life can trigger a spontaneous past life memory. The moment Billy tasted powdered sugar he was reminded of his past-life grandmother's baking, and the memory poured forth. Liia saw the sun reflecting on the metallic guardrail of a bridge——the last image she saw before she died was the sun reflecting on the silvery bridge above her. When Charlotte had silver caps put on her teeth, she was reminded of her own death and the "bad guys" who took her silver teeth.
In that moment of recognition when a child sees an object, meets a person, or sees a place that resonates with the past experience, the switch is flipped, the circuit between past and present is completed, the eyes light up, and the images and feelings rush into the conscious mind.

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And:

As more stories came to me, I started to see a pattern in these seemingly random cases. Parents told me so often: "We were riding in the car when my child began to tell me about his past life," that I began to joke that the automobile is a past-life time machine. But seriously, I wondered, what does a car have to do with it?
Then I was struck by the obvious. The motion of the car lulls children into a trance state. We mothers know we can usually rely on the hypnotic motion of the car to ease a child to sleep. A person of any age, just before falling asleep passes through the border regions of the unconscious mind——a brief twilight zone of images and intuitive impressions——called a hypnagogic state. This is a trance state in which psychic impressions, including past life memories, well to the surface just before consciousness is drowned in sleep. If the child floats in this zone without falling all the way into sleep, he will be in an opportune state to begin experiencing past life memories.